A Forum for Emotional Health, Not Just Physical

It was a great pleasure to attend the 7th National ACHA Conference in Chicago earlier this month. This was my third and as in the past, it was a very fulfilling experience. From the welcome sessions to the gala, having the opportunity to be around 500+ patients, family and medical professionals in support of our CHD community was both rewarding and inspiring. Young and old, many in the company of fellow CHDers for the first time, others with lifelong friends made at past conferences, together sharing… and dancing!!

It was a wonderful experience and one that captures all the hope ACHA has given so many. All of it will stay with me, but there is one experience that stood out.

I had opportunity to join the “Romance and CHD” session. Not knowing where the conversation would head, I was a little uneasy. But what revealed itself over the 50 minutes was that this conference provides a much-needed forum for our emotional health, not just our physical health.

Many relationship issues were shared. A husband spoke passionately about how taking the leap and loving his CHD wife was worth all the worry and stress. Many shared their experiences of revealing their CHD to new love interests, and how to balance struggling with scars and body image. Having two women, at different stages of their lives, share stories of losing their CHD loved one, and they were there still with our community—beautiful!

Being part of this and hearing the emotional battle wounds that no cardiac visit is going to mend revealed the true power of this conference: Helping our community see all of the scars caused by a malformed heart and the power of shared experiences and community to help heal, not just "fix" them.

This ACHA conference is a memory I will hold on to for a long time, reminding me of what a can-do group we are and keeping me going until we gather again at the next conference!